Use our interactive chart (scroll below or click on the link) to look up your school or any schools in Washington state to see what percent of students are exempted from immunizations.
At more than two dozen Clark County schools, at least 10 percent of the student population has immunization exemptions.
During the 2013-14 school year, 6.8 percent of Clark County students had immunization exemptions. The vast majority (5.6 percent) had personal exemptions. Less than 1 percent had religious or medical exemptions, according to data from the state Department of Health.
A decade ago, during the 2002-03 school year, the immunization exemption rate was significantly lower, about 3.9 percent, according to state data. The rate climbed for several years before reaching 6.8 percent in the 2009-10 school year.
Dr. Alan Melnick, Clark County Public Health director and health officer, suspects the rising exemption rate is due to the amount of misinformation spreading today, especially on social media. Research has proven that immunizations are safe, he said.
“It’s concerning, because lives are at stake,” Melnick said. “Anybody can spread information to a mass audience these days.”
The exemption rate dipped slightly in Clark County during the 2011-12 school year to 5.9 percent. That coincides with a 2011 change in state law that now requires parents seeking an exemption to provide a signed form from a physician indicating they had discussed immunizations.
Since then, though, the rate has crept back up to 6.8 percent. At some local schools, the rate is even higher.
At 22 public schools and four private schools, overall exemption rates in the 2013-14 school year were 10 percent or higher.
When exemption rates climb that high, herd immunity can be compromised, Melnick said.
Herd immunity is when a sufficient portion of a population is vaccinated against an infectious disease to make its spread from person to person unlikely. Herd immunity protects those who cannot be immunized, including infants and those with medical conditions.
Each disease has a different herd immunity threshold. Measles requires one of the highest immunization rates, about 95 percent, Melnick said.
“It’s a pretty dangerous situation to have exemption rates that are well above herd immunity levels,” he said.
The Camas and Battle Ground school districts each had six schools with exemption rates of 10 percent or higher.
The Evergreen and Vancouver schools districts each had four. Ridgefield and Hockinson had one each.
Two home schooling programs — Vancouver Home Connection in the Vancouver school district and Homelink River in the Battle Ground district — had the highest exemption rates in the county. About 44 percent of Vancouver Home Connection’s 307 students had immunization exemptions; 27 percent of Homelink River’s 857 students had exemptions.
At CAM Academy in Battle Ground about 17 percent of students had immunization exemptions. About 14 percent of students at Battle Ground school district’s Maple Grove K-8 School and 12 percent at Amboy Middle School had exemptions last school year.
Sean Chavez, spokesman for Battle Ground Public Schools, said school nurses reach out to families of children with exemptions and offer immunization education. Oftentimes, that outreach encourages families to later vaccinate their children, he said.
In the Camas School District, three elementary schools — Dorothy Fox, Lacamas Heights and Prune Hill — had exemption rates of 12 percent. Another elementary school, Helen Baller, had 11 percent of students exempt from vaccines.
Camas schools also try to give parents information about immunizations and share information about free immunization clinics offered in town, said Molly Ndoloum, nursing supervisor for Camas School District.
Hockinson Heights Elementary and Pioneer Elementary in east Vancouver had an exemption rate of 12 percent. About 11 percent of students at Minnehaha Elementary and 10 percent of students at Hough Elementary had exemptions.
Four private schools in Clark County had exemption rates of 10 percent or higher last school year: Good Shepherd Montessori (11 percent), Gardner School (12 percent), Cedar Tree Classical Christian School (13 percent) and Riverside Christian School (17 percent).
Those schools, however, had student populations considerably smaller than those at most public schools. The largest, Cedar Tree, had 163 students enrolled. Riverside had only 23 kids and Good Shepherd had just nine students.
